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August 30, 2012

Douglas Quaid (Colin Farrell) went to Rekall to acquire artificial memories in order to escape harsh reality... The procedure made him discover about his erased past identity and forced him on an adventure to find out who he really was...

Before I go on spewing my thoughts on the movie, I want to clear out that I'm not the movie buff who watch all the classics and know them by heart... I do watch and love a few old movies like Terminator 2 and Cellular but I'm more of a contemporary stuff kinda guy...

Therefore, when they first showed the trailer for this movie and everyone was like, "Oooohh!! Schwarzenegger!! Oooohh!! The original was so freaky!!", I just gave comments like, "Wooww... Nice CGI effects... Totally will watch this!"

I did download and watch the original first because I wanted to see what's so freaky about it... It turned out that I have actually watched it before when I was young... The most memorable scene was the X-ray scanner that showed skeletons and guns of the people who went through it... Well, the classic one was indeed mindfuckingly freaky and cheesy... Old school style... It was so amusing to watch...

The modern version of Total Recall is not so freaky and cheesy... Though the story line and the characters are the same, the mood is totally different... Compared to the classic, it's more serious, believable and action packed... Not to mention, the CGI effects are beautiful...

What I love the most about the movie is that the action scenes are satisfyingly plenty and well choreographed... The director must really love parkour because there are so many climbing and jumping scenes... Not that it's a bad thing... In fact, those scenes are so exciting to watch...

Have I told u about the CGI effects? Yes, this movie is really an eye candy... I love the magnetic car chase scenes... I also love the concept of The Fall and its gravity shift... Not to mention, the lead characters are yummy yummilicious... Colin Farrell, Jessica Biel, and Kate Beckinsale... Tough love triangle...

Kate Beckinsale, though she's such a bad ass, really can't pull the slutty flirtatious act... Need to learn more from Sharon Stone...

Those who love the original one might not like the alterations made... Nothing beats the old school huh? Luckily, as I mentioned, I'm the contemporary guy and thus, I could really enjoy watching this movie... The visual effects are stunning, it's action packed, and Colin Farrell VS Kate Beckinsale VS Jessica Biel is FTW...

August 26, 2012

Wilee (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a Manhattan bike messenger, ran into trouble when a dirty cop took interest in the package he was delivering...

Style over substance... That's this movie is all about... Impressive action sequences done with bikes and a little bit of comedy here and there, but ordinary and quite believable story line...

Joseph Gordon-Levitt was definitely the star of this movie because of his usual charming way of acting and now backed with great action moves... He was the main reason why I wanted to catch this movie and indeed he didn't disappoint...

Who knew a movie about bike rides could be so exciting and engaging to watch? I loved how Wilee manoeuvred his bicycle and performed so many tricks while riding... The most stylish one was of course the way he drifted his bike... Screechhhh... Definitely a must try trick for bike lovers...

The story was quite simple even though the director tried to twist and turn it with flashbacks and showing different vantage points... Though I was amused by the images of maps and routes... Google Maps style... Wilee's sense of 'prediction' was also a cool thing to see...

Bobby Monday (Micheal Shannon) did very well in portraying a messed up bad cop... I hated him because he's really annoying and yet so persistent... It was satisfying to see him being fooled around by Wilee...

All in all, I'm giving this movie a high rating because Joseph Gordon-Levitt did a great job, the bicycle stunts were amazing to watch and there were amusing moments that won laughs from the audience...

August 25, 2012

The Expendables were back in action and they had a new member to the team - Billy the Kid (Liam Hemsworth)... Their luck ran out when a mission that was supposed to be just like a walk in the park for them went bad when Vilain (Jean-Claude Van Damme) came and spilled blood... Revenge was inevitable...

Those who look for deep or smartly elaborated action movie would definitely want to skip this movie because the plot is bad, the acting is bad, and there are so many 80's and 90's action movie clichés...

Honestly, this movie is like a parody of old school action movies... It's essential for you to be familiar with those old movies in order to get most of the jokes being thrown around through out the movie...

Norris celebrated his online meme fame by reciting one of his meme jokes... It was really memorable for me as I laughed my ass out at it...

As expected, the action scenes were plenty and superb... Every character was given almost equal chance to show their badassery... The most enjoyable to watch for me was the combo of Schwarzenegger and Willis at the airport shoot out... They were hilarious!! in a bad ass manner of course...

I would to summarize but again stressing that this movie is not for those who are looking for well elaborated movies... The Expendables franchise was created by Stallone especially for old school action movie fans and it will definitely stay that way... The amount of action and jokes were satisfying and exceeded the first instalment... Definitely an enjoyable movie for me...

August 9, 2012

It was a fine morning and birds were singing happily to each other... However, instead of going out to play with the neighbours' kids, I was on my routine of looking after Abah's grocery store... What a bummer... By the way, this happened years and years ago, when I was still in school...

Out of boredom, I cranked up the volume of my rustic radio... I was tuning in to Radio 4 (It's Traxx.FM now), listening to old songs like a proper hipster... I would prefer Hitz.FM or Red but that channel was the only English language radio channel I could get at my area...

As I was listening to a song by The Proclaimers, 'I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles), a customer walked in... He was tall, dark and not handsome... His clothes were dirty and he stank... Probably a mechanic or foreman...

"Huiyooo... Fahmi dengar lagu Mat Salleh la..."

Well, actually he talked in Terengganu accent... So, it was like this;

"Huiyooo... Pamie! Dengor lagu Mak Salleh bohhhh..."

It's difficult to transcribe every word of spoken Terengganu accent and therefore, lets stick to the standard Malay language... Okey?

Anyway, being typical me, I just smiled and not say a word... He asked me for a pack of cigarettes which I handed over after he paid me... He lighted one of them and leaned on the ice cream fridge...

He took off as soon as he finished up his last sentence... I still didn't give a damn and my morning was still lame but it was a good thing to hear... He just indirectly taught me that you can't really judge a book by its cover...

No matter how religious a person might appear to be, it doesn't mean that he/she is genuinely obedient to every religious teaching... He/she's still a normal human being who tend to make mistakes or tempted to do sinful things...

August 8, 2012

A colleague of mine sent me this via email and I found it helpful... So, I'm sharing it with all of you...

Capt. Balasubramaniam who is an expert on rescue and survival shared this with some attendees in one of his programmes. What he emphasized was that we should never put ourselves in a dangerous and vulnerable position and this usually just entails some common sense and alertness most of the time. Of course things do happen no matter how careful you are.

At the car park:

Do not walk towards your car. Walk towards the next car or the car opposite. Do lock your car immediately you get in and drive off ASAP. Please don't check your cellphone, your make-up, etc.

At the ATM:

Use your ring finger to key in your pin, as the rest of the fingers will cover the keypad.

Do not count your money at the atm. After all it's not going to give you what it owes to you.

In a taxi:

Pretend to make a phone call to your friend/husband informing them where you are, what time you are expected, the colour of taxi,

taxi no etc. you must of course talk within earshot of the driver.

If you live alone:

Do get some men's clothing's and shoes. Hang them out with your own laundry! Leave the men's shoes outside your house.

Do leave radio/TV on.

Do be suspicious if you receive calls that seem to have got the wrong number.

If you have husbands who travel regularly:

Do drive his car when he is not around as opportunists will notice that his car is dusty and in the same spot for many days.

If you have children tell them:

Never to post photos of your new car on Facebook.

Never to reveal that they are 'home alone' or parents are away.

Also, get the telephone number of the police station in your area and list it as the first number in your phone contact list rather than list it under P.

Calling 999 in an emergency will be a futile attempt.

Safety Gadgets:

1.Keeping a loud hailer at home would be more effective than screaming and shouting for help in an emergency

2.Install sensor light

3.Pepper spray - they have a shelf life. So you must check the expiry date otherwise it will fail you when you need to use it!

Capt. Bala recommends that pepper sprays must be :

a. Water based

b. Must be US made with finger ring on the bottom

c. Must have double casing.

4. Alarm padlocks.

5. Throw some thumb tacks up the opening in the ceiling (what do you call that?) for those who live in link houses.

If you are ever, so unfortunate to have your bag snatched, do not struggle with the assailant. Let go and do not chase after them. Neither should your husband/boyfriend/son.

When you drop your friend/loved ones home, especially those who live in apartments, get them to text you once they are inside the safety of their homes. I think we should drill this in to our sons who drop off their girlfriends.

SMASH AND GRAB ROBBERS ATTACKED ABOUT 5 CASES A DAY FROM MAY TO JUNE 2012

WHAT IS THE STATISTIC FOR JULY ? HAVE YOU TINTED YOUR CAR YET? DO YOU ALWAYS WAKE UP LATE AND YOU LIKE TO RUSH DAILY?

First of all, I would like to express how thankful I am to be blessed with something this big... I'm thankful to the Almighty for my wife and baby's good health and condition... I'm thankful to have such loving parents and in laws and other family members... I'm thankful to have such caring friends... Thank you... Thank you... Alhamdulillah...

Initially, we planned to hold the baby project and take our time to develop our financials and assets first... We were rather indecisive on this baby thing... However, a short moment after our beautiful marriage, the presence of so many cute babies changed our minds... Like seriously, suddenly there were so many babies around... It gave my wife and I the chance to learn what a good idea it was to get a baby of our own...

At first, though I was very excited, this pregnancy matter didn't have much impact on me personally as I'm not the one carrying the child... It all changed when I first saw the ultrasound image of the baby on the screen of the ultrasound machine thingy... I saw its head, its body, its hands and legs... I felt like crying at that time... I was touched... "That's my baby...", I thought to myself...

I thanked God a million times for those tiny hands and legs... I was so so so grateful to see the baby so perfectly shaped... It was a miracle for me... It was so magical...

So far, I have been trying my best to be supportive... I've been making myself available so I can take wifey to the clinic for regular checkups... I try to be helpful around the house so she won't do too much chores...

Apart from that, I also try to prepare myself to be a good father... When my younger brothers were born, I took care of them until they were able to put their own clothes... I changed their diapers, I cleaned them up, I entertained them... I did everything since mom and dad were always busy with chores and work... However, that was years and years ago... My brothers are now all grown up and because of that, my baby care skills are rather rusty...

A few weeks ago, I tried holding my brother in law's newborn, Iskandar, and I think I sucked at it... I wasn't sure which part of his small and fragile body was safe enough to hold... It made me feel more nervous... I should go buy Handling Babies for Dummies...

I've been reading tons of information on baby care... I found that Parenthood magazine very informational... Besides that magazine, I also search the Net for articles and news on baby care...

My wife is a big help when it comes to religious stuff... She has been telling me about verses of Al-Quran that are worth reading... She also teaches me how to recite the Al-Quran better... Her encouragement and support made me a better person... I'm now more confident to be her Imam...

Despite all of the preparations, I know that when the real deal hits, it'll be very challenging to handle... I must now strive to be a good father and also a good husband... I hope all of you fellow readers can pray for the best for me... Any tips and good information are welcomed as you can leave them in the comments section...

August 5, 2012

"Two Sloths, a mammoth and a saber? You guys are like the start of a bad joke!"

Scrat (Chris Wedge) did it again... His acorn obsession had driven the world into chaos and forced the odd herd - Manny (Ray Romano) the mammoth, Sid (John Leguizamo) the sloth, and Diego (Denis Leary) the sabre tooth tiger, to go out for an adventure again... This time, the journey took place at sea and new vicious enemies were made...

The previous instalment of Ice Age movie series - Dawn of the Dinosaurs - was surprisingly a success as it earned a sum of $886 million at worldwide box office... For me, the success of the third movie was mainly because of the awesome character Buck (Simon Pegg)... I loved that character and I hoped that it would appear again in Continental Drift...

Well, Buck did show up but only for a few seconds...

The downside of this movie was the slow development at the beginning... The production house took their time and made way for Manny to develop parenting issues as he tried to refrain his daughter from hanging out with delinquents... However, as soon as the action started, there was no turning back as audience were bombarded with exciting action sequences...

Go big or go home... I think that was the motto used by the production crew because Continental Drift was extremely generous with action scenes... From the part where the herd was separated from their home until the end, the excitement never stopped...

What's quite amusing about this movie was the herd was rivalled by a gang of badass pirates! The clash between these two groups resulted in hilarious physical comedy...

However, as exciting as it was, I found that this one is not as memorable as the previous instalment... There were so much going on but it lacked something new and refreshing...

To conclude, Continental Drift is indeed a very fun and exciting movie to watch as the action was plenty and the comedy gained a lot of laughs from the audience... However, the lack of new ideas had made this movie not as memorable as Dawn of the Dinosaurs...